Contemplative Haven: From Laundry Soap to Sanctity 
From Laundry Soap to Sanctity
Today is the feastday of Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis. Élodie, as she was called in childhood, was born in the village of L'Acadie, Québec, Canada in 1840. She entered the Holy Cross congregation in 1854, spent many years teaching in different locations, and in 1880, founded a new order: The Little Sisters of the Holy Family. The sisters of this new congregation were to devote themselves to priests and seminarians by taking care of their households. The order now has convents not only in Canada, but in the U.S., Rome and Honduras. Élodie died in 1912, and was the first Canadian ever beatified on Canadian soil. Pope John Paul II declared her Blessed in his visit to Canada in 1980.I wonder if, when she discerned her vocation as a very young woman, Élodie got down on her knees and begged God to allow her to spend her life overseeing the cleaning of rectories and seminaries? Was her heart's desire to serve the Lord by becoming the foundress of an order devoted to washing priests' kitchen floors and scrubbing seminarians' bathrooms? Somehow I doubt it. She did what needed to be done, without complaint, telling her sisters that they would rest in heaven.
There is very little written about Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis, and so I do not know, for certain, if she had a contemplative bone in her body. But I believe she did. It is said she was known for her devotion to the Rosary and to the Eucharist, and my intuition tells me that during her long, tiring days, she was a woman who practised the presence of God.
Élodie. Marie-Léonie. Bienheureuse. Housecleaning her way through life. No question; the woman's a saint.
posted by Gabrielle at 12:16 AM
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